It has been years since I last had one of my horses out at a boarding stable. The last time it was when I sent a horse out for driving training. At that time the price was reasonable because it included full time training. Several people I know pay over $500.00 a month to have their horse boarded in a stall at a stable with access to a riding arena and fed 2X a day. When I boarded my horse full time 10 years ago without training it was $350 a month.
I know that costs have gone up but most of the time when you are boarding a horse you are helping the landowner pay for their mortgage payment. That is in fact how many people can afford to buy property in the countryside, they board horses. What I would like to know is “will the prices of horse boarding come down with the price of horse properties?” If the horse industry is to bounce back from the current dismal situation of people selling off horses because they can no longer afford to pay the high boarding prices, then the people that have boarding stables should start to drop their prices. All I can see right now is greed – the boarding stables getting what they can, while they can. Don’t tell me the price of feed has gone way up and that is why the high board prices, I know different. I have 6 horses and I have also been a professional horse trainer. The costs of feed, insurance and supplements for 6 horses are about $200.00 a month. That does not include vet or farrier fees since those costs would not be included in a horse board cost anyway.
While I am on the subject of the cost of horse care, here is another item that gets to me – horse rescues asking for $200.00 a month to “sponsor” a horse. Unless they are boarding that horse the cost is way out of line. It looks to me like they are just trying another way to make some money when they claim to be a non-profit. What does non-profit mean to you?
5 Comments
July 17, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I find you post intresting. What do you feed? Because I would LOVE to have those prices per month for my bills! I pay an avereage of $130.00 per month per horse. And I live in the Midwest where hay prices are still reasonable. Let me know your feed, insurance and supplements regimine. I may want to change…..
Jamie
July 17, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I buy my hay, a grass/alfalfa mix wholesale from the local distributor at $12-14 a bale (90-120lb each). I go through 3 bales a week for the evening feed of 5 riding horses and one mini. The morning feed is a complete horse feed pellets and I buy 5 (50lb bags) a week for $13 each. My total weekly costs of feed for my herd of six is about $101. For the month it is just over $400.oo.
I use to feed suppliments but since I now feed a complete horse feed in the morning that has all the vitamins I stopped feeding the suppliments. My 2 senior horses are on senior feed by Life Design and it even has the joint suppliment in the mix for them.
All the horses are kept in stalls at night and let out to pasture during the day. During the summer months the pasture dries out so there is no feed just trees and brush. During the spring and early winter I sometimes cut back on their feed because they get fat out on the pasture grass. It snows in the winter so the grass goes dormant. Having a small pasture (about 4 acres) does help to cut back on the feed bill but only during the wetter months.
July 18, 2008 at 7:19 am
I thought that $200.00 a month was a pretty low guesstament…. I feed good quality bermuda hay (2.5-3 bales a week per horse at $5.00 per bale) as well a 6-8 lbs of Dynasty pro per day per horse at $14.00 per 50lbs. I don’t suppliment as with the Dynasty I do not need to. Add on insurance (around $250-$300 per horse per year) and I got no where near your $200.00 for 6 a month…. We do “self board” down here where we do all the care our selves and supply all our own feed, bedding, and so on. We get a 14′ x 20′ foaling stall, a 10′ x 10′ feed stall and the run of a 1 acre pipe fenced paddock and we pay $200.00 a month and couldn’t be more pleased!! We do all our own cleaning, but they take care of the upkeep. I have boarded a few different places and I have one thing to say….. YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU GET!!!!!
July 18, 2008 at 9:35 am
jmstar74 wrote “I thought that $200.00 a month was a pretty low guesstament…”
Since I wrote the original post, earlier this year I added the pelleted feed to my horse’s diet. That alone doubled the price of my monthly feed bill. I feed by weight and paying $13.00 for 50 lbs of pelleted feed compared to $13.00 for 100lb bale is doubling my cost. The pellets were added for being a convenience only. It was easier to feed pellets to the horses on my way to work than have hay all over me.
If I was feeding only high quality hay my monthly cost would be $260 for 6 horses. That is 5 bales a week at $13.00 each.
Also if you are a regular reader you would know that I own my own property complete with a new 6 stall barn (custom built 2 years ago), tackroom and feed room that I want to add a complete sink and counter area to and several other storage buildings. The horses also have daily access to 2 pastures that I rotate them on. Each one is about 3-4 acres each. So my costs are much, much lower than yours are.
I have found out that in my 20 years of owning horses it is much better to own the property that you house them on then board them. I have had to move my horses at least twice because the boarding stables went out of business or the owner decided to sell. I will not let my horses be at the mercy of a property owner again.
July 23, 2008 at 9:09 am
I was not tacking on the price of Board, just feed and insurance was the only question I had.
Jamie